The body count for the day nationwide: 137. It should be noted that there are no demonstrations or protests going on in Homs. Assad's forces are targeting neighborhoods and, as reports from the usually reliable Local Coordinating Committees indicate, hospitals.

CNN:

Syrian state television Thursday said armed terrorist gangs fired seven shells into Homs in the early morning, adding that there were no reports of damage.

The station then showed video of people it identified as residents saying armed gangs had fired on their homes and schools with shells and rocket-propelled grenades.

Nearly all other reports from within the country, however, tell a different story. Opposition activists in Homs describe explosions from mortars and tank shells launched by Syrian forces every few minutes, people bleeding to death in the streets for lack of medical attention, and snipers picking off civilians running for cover.

Video reportedly from Homs and posted online shows rubble and the remains of buildings as gunfire is heard in the background.

Medical charities say doctors inside Syria have reported hospitals, clinics, medical staff and patients being targeted.

A doctor in the Homs neighborhood of Baba Amr, Ali, said a group from the Red Crescent recently tried to visit to give medical aid, but their vehicle was attacked and they were forced to turn around.

CNN is not fully naming the doctor for his protection.

Civilians who enter hospitals with what would have been minor injuries if properly treated were left instead to die, said Col. Malek Al Kurdi of the rebel Free Syrian Army, who said he witnessed such a scene in the coastal city of Latakia.

That visit from the Russian foreign minister sure did a lot of good, eh?

Various options are being explored, none of them satisfactory or even viable. Unlike Gaddafi or Saddam whose retinues of loyal aides and army officers were relatively small, Assad has his Alawite militia - the Shabihi - a cadre of cronies and family in command of several battalions, as well as thousands of loyal Alawite troops who would be expected to fight to the death to maintain their position as the dominant clique in Syria.

In other words, removing Assad won't be enough. His entire rotten Alawite gang will have to be levered out of power. That will take more than a few air strikes and a poorly trained rebel force. It will take an army.

And no nation is stepping forward to volunteer theirs.